New Research by Stay Metrics Links ‘Time Off’ with Driver Performance

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Study shows home time benefits both drivers and carriers.

Now an argument can be made by fleet operators that home time has productivity and financial benefits as well.

South Bend, Indiana (PRWEB)January 26, 2016

Stay Metrics announced that results from a groundbreaking new study show motor carriers can improve the productivity and performance of drivers by meeting their requests to take time off.

Dr. Amir Erez, a professor of management and Trevor Foulk a graduate student at the Warrington College of Business Administration, University of Florida, conducted the study using data on 682 drivers and 6,487 driver months provided by a flatbed trucking customer of Stay Metrics with more than 260 power units.

“To our knowledge, no one has yet looked at the trucking industry to see if generous time-off policies and procedures are able to realize higher employee productivity and job performance,” said Dr. Erez, who serves as a member of Stay Metrics Scientific Advisory Board.

Stay Metrics offers a full suite of driver engagement and retention services for clients in the trucking industry. It administers a privately branded online rewards and recognition platform for clients that doubles as a data collection tool for annual driver satisfaction surveys. The company also conducts new driver interviews at the 7 and 45-day periods and exit interviews as a neutral third party.

“We know at Stay Metrics that home time, or the lack thereof, is a predictor of driver turnover,” said Tim Hindes, chief executive officer of Stay Metrics. “What this new study shows is that now an argument can be made by fleet operators that home time has productivity and financial benefits as well.”

The study modeled time off requests that were met by the carrier each month to find the effects on three variables for desirable driver performance in the subsequent months. The results from this unique analysis are summarized below:

Bonus rate. The mean bonus rate for drivers in the study is 3.5 cents per mile. Drivers earned a monthly bonus that was calculated from their scores in four categories — compliance, vehicle care, fuel, and production. The model suggests that for each time off request met, their bonus rate increased nearly three percent the following month.

Miles driven. On average, drivers had approximately 8,577 miles per month. For each time off request that was met, the model showed they traveled 218 more miles the following month than drivers who did not take time off. Using a rate of $2.00 per mile for revenue, each time off request met generated $536 more in revenue the following month than drivers who did not.

Total bonus pay. This is the product of bonus rate and miles driven. The mean is $344.66 per month and the analysis indicates drivers who took time off earned $17.85 more in bonus pay, per month, than drivers who did not take time off. This is an increase in bonus pay of more than five percent.

About Stay Metrics
Stay Metrics (http://www.staymetrics.com), founded in 2012, works collaboratively with motor carrier clients to solve driver retention challenges. Stay Metrics offers an industry-leading combination of driver surveys and interviews, data analytics, and predictive-modeling that help carriers simultaneously improve financial results and the work-life experiences of drivers.

Driver retention rates are further enhanced when motor carriers use Stay Metrics’ custom-branded driver loyalty and rewards platform. Drivers earn meaningful rewards by delivering on metrics that make their companies money by engaging in gamification and educational activities such as safety and wellness programs. Stay Metrics aims to improve truck driver retention for trucking companies by giving them a platform to recognize and reward drivers, while at the same time gathering business insights from surveys and related research.